The tavern of the Wild Ass was the usual resort of the conductors of
camels, of the men who let out donkeys, of porters, pedlars, vendors of
water melons, pomegranates, of fresh dates, when in season, and later of
preserved olives and dry dates. In this tavern were also to be found men
of no profession, prostitutes of the lowest class, beggars, vagabonds,
and those worthy fellows whose armed protection was purchased by
travellers when they repaired from one town to another, in order to be
defended against the highwayman by this escort often very much
suspected. There might also be seen those Roman slaves brought by their
masters into the country of the Hebrews.
This tavern had a bad reputation; disputes and quarrels were frequent
there, and at the approach of night none were seen to venture in the
neighborhood of the _Lamb's_-gate, not far from which this den was
situated, but men of suspicious figure or women of a low class; then,
night having completely set in, from this dreaded place issued cries,
bursts of laughter, bacchanalian songs; frequently painful groans
succeeded to the disputes; from time to time some men of the Jerusalem
militia entered the tavern under pretence of establishing peace and
quietness, and left it, either more drunk and disorderly than the
drinkers, or driven out with sticks and stones.
On the day following that on which the supper at Pontius Pilate's had
taken place, towards the evening about dusk, two young men, plainly
dressed in white tunics and turbans of blue cloth, were walking through
a narrow winding street, at the end of which was perceived the door of
the dreaded tavern; they conversed as they advanced, and frequently
turned their heads towards one of the extremities of the street, as if
they expected the appearance of some one.
'Genevieve,' said one to his companion stopping (these two pretended
young men were Aurelia and her slave, disguised under masculine
garments), 'Genevieve, my new friend Jane is late in coming, this alarms
me; and besides, if I must confess it, I am afraid of committing some
folly.'
'In that case, my dear mistress, let us return home.'
'I have a great mind to; but then shall I ever meet with such an
opportunity again?'
'It is true that the absence of the Seigneur Gremion, your husband, who
departed this morning with the Seigneur Chusa, steward of Herod the
prince, leaves you completely free, and that perhaps for some time you
may not enjoy quite so much liberty.'
'Confess, Genevieve, that you are still more curious than I am to see
this extraordinary man, this young Nazarene?'
'Were it so, my dear mistress, there would be nothing astonishing in my
desire; I am a slave, and the Nazarene says that there ought to be no
longer slaves.'
'I render your slavery very hard, then, Genevieve?'
'No, oh! no! But sincerely, do you know many mistresses who resemble
you?'
'It is not for me to reply to that, flatterer'--
'It is for me to say so. If by chance we meet with one good mistress
like you, there are a hundred who, for a word, or the slightest
negligence, mutilate their slaves with the lash, or torture them with a
cruel joy. Is this true?'
'I do not deny it.'
'You render my servitude as mild as possible, my dear mistress; but
still I do not belong to myself. I have been obliged to separate from my
poor Fergan, my husband, who wept so on quitting me. What assures me
that on your return I shall find him at Marseilles, that he has not been
sold and carried I know not where? What assures me that the Seigneur
Gremion will not sell me, or separate me from you?'
'I have promised you that you shall not quit me.'
'But if your husband wishes to sell me, you could not prevent him.'
'Alas! no.'
'And a hundred years ago, the fathers and mothers of us Gauls were free;
however Fergan's ancestors were the most valiant chiefs of their tribe!'
'Oh!' said Aurelia, smiling, 'the daughters of a Cæsar would not be more
proud of having an emperor as a father than you are, of what you call
the father of your husband.'
'Pride is not permitted to slaves,' replied Genevieve mournfully; 'all
that I regret, is our liberty. What have we done, then, to lose it? Ah!
if the prayers of this young man of Nazareth are answered! if there are
to be no more slaves!'
'No more slaves? Why, Genevieve, you are mad; is it possible! No more
slaves? That their life be rendered as sweet as possible, be it so; but
no more slaves would be the end of the world.--Look you, Genevieve, it
is these exaggerations that do so much harm to this young Nazarene.'
'He is not believed by the rich and powerful.--Yesterday, at the supper
with Pontius Pilate, standing behind you, I did not lose a word. What
bitterness against this young man!'
'What would you, Genevieve?' replied Aurelia smiling; ''tis a little his
own fault.'
'You, too, accuse him?'
'No, but still he attacks the bankers, the doctors of law, the
physicians, the priests, all those hypocrites in fact, who, Jane tells
me, belong to pharisaical opinions. It requires no more to ruin him
forever.'
'It is courageous at least, to speak these truths to wicked men, and
this young man of Nazareth is as good as he is courageous, according to
Jane, your friend. She is rich, and held in consideration; she is not a
slave like me; he does not preach in her favor therefore, and yet see
how she admires him!'
'This admiration of a sweet and charming woman testifies, it is true, in
favor of this young man; for Jane, with her noble heart, would be
incapable of admiring the wicked. What an amiable friend chance has
given me in her! I know nothing more tender than her look, or more
penetrating than her voice. She says that when this Nazarene speaks to
those who are suffering, to the poor and to the little children, his
face becomes divine. I don't know, but what is certain is, that the face
of Jane becomes celestial when she speaks of him.'
'Is it not she who is approaching on this side, my dear mistress?'
'I hear a gentle step in the shade.'
'It must be her.'
In fact, Jane, also dressed as a young man, had soon joined Aurelia and
her slave. 'You have been waiting for me some time, perhaps, Aurelia?'
said the young woman; 'but I could not secretly leave my house before
this hour.'
'Jane, I do not feel myself quite easy; I am perhaps still more timid
than curious. Only think, women of our condition in this horrible
tavern, where, as they say, the dregs of the populace assemble.'
'Be not afraid; these people are more turbulent and frightful to look at
than really wicked. I have already been among them twice under this
disguise with one of my relations to hear the young master. The tavern
is but feebly lighted; round the court runs a dark gallery where we
shall not be seen.--We will order a jug of beer, and they will not
trouble themselves about us; they are only occupied with the young man
of Nazareth, or in his absence, with his disciples, who come to preach
good news. Come, Aurelia, it is late, come.'
'Listen! listen!' said the young woman to Jane, turning her ear toward
the tavern with some uneasiness; 'hear you those cries? They are
disputing in that horrible place!'
'That proves that the young master is not yet arrived,' replied Jane;
'for in his presence every voice is silent, and the most violent become
as gentle as lambs.'
'And besides, Jane, just look at that group of men and women of evil
mien, collected before the door by the light of that lantern. Pray, let
us wait till they have passed on or entered the tavern.'
'Come, there is nothing to fear, I tell you.'
'No, I entreat you, Jane: another moment.--Really, I admire your
bravery!'
'Oh! 'tis because Jesus of Nazareth inspires courage as he inspires
gentleness towards the guilty, tenderness for him who suffers. And then,
if you knew how natural his language is! what touching and ingenuous
parables he finds to bring his ideas within reach of simple men, of the
poor in mind as he calls them, and whom he loves so! Thus, all, even the
little children, for whom he has so great a liking, understand his words
and lose not a syllable. Undoubtedly, before him, other Messiahs have
prophesied the deliverance of our country oppressed by the stranger,
have explained our holy scriptures, and have by the magical means of
medicine treated diseases thought incurable; but none of these Messiahs
have hitherto shown that patient sweetness with which the young master
teaches the humble and the young, all in fact; for with him there are no
infidels, no heathens; every good and simple heart for the very reason
that it is good is worthy of the kingdom of heaven. Don't you know his
parable of the heathen? Nothing is more simple and more touching.'
'No, Jane, I do not know it.'
''Tis the last I heard him preach. It is called the Good Samaritan.'
'What is a Samaritan?'
'The Samaritans are an idolatrous people, beyond the farthest mountains
of Judea; the high priests regard these people as excluded from the
kingdom of God. Here is the parable:
'A man who was going to Jerusalem fell into the hands of robbers; they
pillaged him, covered him with wounds, and went on their way leaving him
half dead.
'It so happened afterwards that a Priest went the same road, who having
perceived the wounded man, passed on.
'A Levite, who approached the same place, having noticed the wounded
man, also passed on.
'But a Samaritan, who was travelling, came to the spot where the man
was, and seeing him, he was moved with compassion, approached him,
poured oil and wine upon his wounds, bandaged them, and having placed
him on his horse, he led him to an hostelry and took care of him.
'The next morning the Samaritan drew two penny pieces from his pocket,
gave them to the host, and said to him: 'Pay attention to this man; all
that you expend beyond this, I will repay you.'
'Now,' inquired Jesus of his disciples, 'which of these three men, think
you, was the neighbor of him who had fallen into the hands of the
robbers?'
'It is he,' they replied to Jesus, 'who was merciful to the wounded
man.'
'Go in peace, then, and do likewise,' replied Jesus, with a heavenly
smile.
Genevieve the slave, on hearing this recital, could not restrain her
tears, for Jane had accented with ineffable sweetness the last words of
Jesus: 'Go, then, in peace, and do likewise.'
'You are right, Jane,' said Aurelia, musing; 'a child would comprehend
the meaning of these words, and I feel myself moved.'
'And yet, this parable,' continued Jane, 'is one of those which have the
most irritated the high priests and the doctors of law against the young
man of Nazareth.'
'And why?'
'Because in this narrative he shows a Samaritan, a heathen, more humane
than the Levite, than the Priest, since this idolator, seeing a brother
in the wounded man, succored him, and thus renders himself more worthy
of heaven than the two holy men of hard hearts. This, you see, is just
what the enemies of Jesus call blasphemies, sacrileges!'
'Jane, let us go to the tavern. I have no longer any fear of entering
this place. People for whom such narratives are invented, and who listen
to them with avidity, cannot be wicked.'
'You see, my dear Aurelia, the words of the Nazarene already act upon
you; they give you confidence and courage. Come, come.'
The young woman took the arm of her friend; both, followed by the slave
Genevieve, turned their steps towards the tavern of the 'Wild Ass,'
where they soon arrived.
This tavern, a square built house, like most in the East, was composed
of an interior court surrounded with stout pillars, supporting a terrace
and forming four galleries, beneath which the drinkers could retire in
case of rain; but the night being mild and serene, the majority of the
customers were at tables in the court, lighted by a large iron lamp in
the middle of the court. This unique luminary, but feebly lighting the
galleries, in which were also some drinkers, they remained completely
obscured.
It was to one of these gloomy retreats that Jane, Aurelia and the slave
Genevieve, directed their steps; they saw in passing through the crowd,
then somewhat noisy, many persons in rags or poorly clad, women of
immoral life, miserably attired, had as a turban, a scrap of white
sackcloth; some others, on the contrary, wore robes and turbans of
precious stuff, but faded; bracelets, ear-rings and necklaces in copper,
ornamented with false stones; their cheeks were covered with a brilliant
paint; their haggard and sorrowful countenance, and a stamp of
bitterness, which revealed itself even in their noisy and intemperate
joy, told quite enough of the miseries, the anguish, and the shame of
their sad life as courtezans.
Amongst the men, some appeared dispirited by poverty, others had a bold
and audacious air; several wore rusty weapons at their girdle, or leant
upon their long sticks terminated by a ball of iron; elsewhere might be
recognized by their iron collar and shaven head, the domestic slaves
belonging to Roman officers; further on, the infirm, in rags, were
seated on the ground in crutches.
Mothers held in their arms their infant children, pale and thin, whom
they hugged with a regard tenderly anxious, no doubt also awaiting the
arrival of the young Nazarene, so skilled in the healing art.
Genevieve, from some words exchanged between two men well dressed, but
of harsh and disagreeable features, guessed that they were the secret
emissaries whom the high priests and doctors of the law made use of to
note the words of the Nazarene, and draw him into a snare of an
imprudent confidence.
Jane, more bold than her friend, had made a passage for her through the
crowd; seeing a table unoccupied, placed in the shade and behind one of
the pillars of the galleries, the wife of the Seigneur Chusa seated
herself at it with Aurelia, and demanded a jug of beer from one of the
girls of the tavern, whilst Genevieve, standing by the side of her
mistress, did not lose sight of the two emissaries of the pharisees, and
greedily listened to all that was said round about her.
'The night advances,' said a young and handsome woman mournfully to one
of her companions seated at a table before her, and whose cheeks were
like her own, covered with paint, as was customary with courtezans.'
'Jesus of Nazareth will not come here to-night.'
''Twas scarcely worth while to come here; we could have taken a walk in
the neighborhood of the Pool: and there some Roman officer, half drunk,
or some doctor of law, hugging the walls, his nose in his cloak, would
have given us a supper. You must not complain, Oliba, if we go to our
couch supperless: 'twas your wish.'
'That sort of bread seems to me now so bitter, that I do not regret it.'
'Bitter or not, it was bread, and when we are hungry, we must eat.'
'In listening to the words of Jesus,' replied the other courtezan,
mildly, 'I should have forgotten hunger.'
'Oliba, you will become mad. To feed upon words!'
'The words of Jesus always say: pardon, mercy, love; and hitherto for us
there was nothing but words of scorn and contempt!' And the courtezan
remained pensive, her forehead resting upon her hand.
'You are a strange girl, Oliba,' continued the other, 'but however,
empty as it is, we shall not have even this supper of words; for the
Nazarene will not come now: it is too late.'
'On the contrary, I trust the all powerful God may direct him here!'
said a poor woman seated on the ground near the two courtezans, and
holding in her arms a sickly child:--
'I am come from Bethlehem on foot to pray our good Jesus to cure my poor
little babe; he is unparalleled for the cure of diseases of children,
and far from being paid for his advices, he often gives you something
wherewith to purchase the balsams he prescribes.'
'By the body of Solomon! I, too, hope that our friend Jesus will come
here to-night,' observed a tall man, with a ferocious face, and a long
stiff beard, dressed in a red rag of a turban, and a short robe of
camel's hair, almost in rags, confined at the waist by a cord supporting
a large rusty cutlass without a sheath. This man also held in his hand
a long stick with an iron knob at the point.
'If our worthy friend of Nazareth does not come to-night, I shall have
lost my time for nothing, for I had engaged to escort a traveller who
feared going alone from Jerusalem to Bethlehem lest he should meet with
unpleasant encounters.'
'Just look at that bandit, with his hang-dog face and his grand cutlass!
Does he not look like a very safe escort?' quietly said to his companion
one of the two emissaries, seated not very far from Genevieve.
'What a daring villain!'
'He would have murdered and robbed the too confident traveller in the
first bye way!' said the other emissary.
'As true as my name is Banaias!' continued the man with the cutlass, 'I
should have lost without regret this little godsend of escorting a
traveller if our friend of Nazareth had come, I like the man. I must
say! he consoles you not a little for wearing rags, by showing that
since they can no more enter into paradise than a camel can pass through
the eye of a needle, all the wicked rich will one day be roasted like
capons in Beelzebub's kitchen. This neither fills our belly or our
purse, it's true, but it is a consolation; so I shall pass whole days
and nights listening to his overhauling the priests, the doctors of law
and the other pharisees! And our friend does well, for we must hear
these pharisees. If you are brought before their tribunal for some
trifle, they can only say, 'Quick to gaol or to the lash! thief!
villain! firebrand of hell! son of Satan!' and other paternal
remonstrances. By the nose of Ezekiel! do they think thus to ruin men?
The cursed fools don't know, then, that many a horse, restive to the
whip, will obey the voice. But our friend of Nazareth knows it well,
when he said to us the other day, 'If your brother has sinned against
you, take him back; if he repents, pardon him.' That's talking; for, by
the ear of Melchisedeck! I am not as tender and benign as the pascal
lamb. No, no: I have had time to harden my heart, my head and my
skin.--Twenty years ago, my father drove me from his house for a
youthful folly. Since then I have lived at loggerheads with the devil. I
am just as difficult to bridle as a wild ass. And yet, on the faith of
Banaias! by a single word of his gentle voice, our friend of Nazareth
could make me go to the end of the world.'
'If Jesus cannot come,' said another drinker, 'he will send one of his
disciples to inform us, and to preach to us good news in the name of his
master.'
'For want of a cake of fine wheaten flour kneaded with honey, we eat
barley bread,' said an old mendicant bent with age.
'The words of the disciples are good: that of the master is better.'
'Oh, yes!' observed another old mendicant; 'to us who have despaired
since our birth, he gives eternal hope.'
'Jesus teaches us that we are not below our masters,' said a slave of
gloomy appearance.
'Now, since we are as good as our masters, by what right do they keep us
in slavery?'
'Is it because if there are a hundred masters on one side, we are ten
thousand slaves on the other?' observed a second.
'Patience, patience! a day will come when we shall reckon our masters,
and reckon ourselves afterwards; after which will be accomplished the
words of Jesus, 'The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.'
He has said to us artizans, who, by the burden of taxes and the avarice
of sellers, are often in want of bread and garments, as also our wives
and children, 'Be not disquieted; God, our father, provides apparel for
the lilies of the valley, and food for the young sparrows: a day will
come in which you shall want nothing.' Yes, for Jesus has also said
this, 'Put neither gold, nor silver, nor money in your purse, nor sack
for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, for he who works deserves to
be maintained.'
'Here's the master! here's the master!' said several persons, placed
near the door of the tavern; 'there's our friend!'
At these words there was a great movement in the tavern. Aurelia, not
less curious than her slave Genevieve, mounted on a stool, the better to
see the young man. Their expectation was disappointed; it was not yet
him; it was Peter, one of his disciples.'
'And Jesus!' they all demanded of him in one voice: 'where is he?'
'Will not the Nazarene come then?'
'Shall we not see our friend, the friend of the afflicted!'
'I, Judas and Simon, were accompanying him,' replied Peter, 'when at the
door of the town, a poor woman seeing us pass, entreated the master to
enter to see her sick daughter. He did so. He has kept Judas and Simon
with him, and has sent me to you. Those who have need of him have only
to wait here; he will soon come.'
The words of the disciple calmed the impatience of the crowd, and
Banaias, the man with the long cutlass, said to Peter, 'Whilst talking
of the master, talk to us of him: tell us the good news. Does the time
approach when the gluttons, whose bellies grow fat in proportion as ours
grow lean, will have nothing but the coals and brimstone of hell to
fatten upon.'
'Yes, the time approaches!' said Peter mounting on a bench, 'yes, the
time is coming, as comes the night of storm charged with the thunder and
the lightning! Has not the Lord said, by the voice of his prophets, 'I
will send my angel, who shall prepare the way before me?'
'Yes, yes,' cried several voices: 'yes, the prophets have announced it!'
'Who is this angel?' said Peter: 'who is this angel, unless Jesus our
master, the Messiah, the only true Messiah.'
'Yes, 'tis he!'
'He is the promised angel! he is the true Messiah!'
'And this angel having prepared the way, what says the Lord through his
prophets?' continued Peter; 'And I will come near to you to judgment,
and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against false
swearers, and against those who oppress the workman in his wages,
against those who oppress the widow, the orphan, and the stranger,
without having fear of me.' Has not the Lord again said, 'There is a
race whose teeth are thorns, and who use them as knives to devour those
who have nothing on the earth, and who are poor amongst men?'
'If this race has knives for teeth,' said Banaias, placing his hand on
his cutlass, 'we will bite with ours!'
'Oh, may the day come when those shall be judged who oppress the workman
in his wages, and I will denounce to the vengeance of the Lord the
banker Jonas!' said a workman.
'He made me work secretly on the panels of the Chamber of Festivals on
the Sabbath days, and he withheld my wages on those days. I determined
to complain. He threatened to denounce me to the high priest as a
profaner of the holy days, and to have me thrown into prison!'
'And why did the banker Jonas unjustly withhold your salary?' continued
Peter; 'because, as the prophet again says, 'Avarice is like the
horse-leech; it hath two daughters, crying, 'give! give!'
'And these great bloodsuckers,' exclaimed Banaias, 'shall they not one
day disgorge all the blood they have sucked from the poor workmen,
widows and orphans?'
'Yes, yes,' replied the disciple, 'our prophets and Jesus have
announced, 'For them shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth; but when
once the tares, which stifle the grain, is separated, the wicked kings,
the avaricious, and the usurers extirpated from the earth, all the
juices of which they suck out, then shall come the day of happiness for
all, justice for all; and this day arrived,' say the prophets, 'people
shall no longer arm themselves against each other; their swords shall
be turned into reaping hooks, their lances into spades; one nation shall
no longer declare war against another nation; they shall no longer make
war, but each shall sit beneath his own fig-tree or his vine, without
fear of any one; the work of justice shall be the security, the peace
and the happiness of every one. At that time, lastly, the wolf shall
dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the
lion and the sheep shall rest together, and a little child shall lead
them all.'
This charming picture of universal peace and happiness appeared to make
a deep impression on Peter's auditory. Many voices exclaimed:
'Oh! may these times come! for where is the use of people murdering
people?'
'What bloodshed!'
'And who profits by it? The conquering Pharaohs! Men of blood, of
battle, and of rapine.'
'Oh! may the time of happiness, justice and gentleness come; and, as the
prophets say, 'a little child shall lead us all.'
'Yes, a little child will suffice; for we shall be gentle because we
shall be happy,' said Banaias; 'whereas now we are so unhappy, so
enraged, that a hundred giants would not be sufficient to restrain us.'
'And these times come,' continued Peter; 'all having a share in the good
of the earth, fertilized by the labor of each, all being sure of living
in peace and contentment, we shall no longer see the idle living on the
fruits of another's labor. Has not the Lord said through the son of
David, one of his elected:
"I hated all my labor which I have taken under the sun, because I should
leave it to the man that should come after me.
"For there is a man who labors with wisdom, with science, and with
industry, and he shall leave all he has acquired to a man who has given
to it no labor: and who knows not if he will be prudent or foolish?
"Now, this is vanity and great affliction."
'You know,' added the apostle, 'the voice of the son of David is as
sacred as justice. No, he who has not labored ought not to profit by the
labor of another!'
'But suppose I have a child,' said a voice; 'suppose, by depriving
myself of sleep, and a portion of my daily bread, I continue to spare
something for him, that he might not know the miseries I have suffered,
is it unjust, then?'
'Eh! who speaks to you of the present?' exclaimed Peter; 'who speaks to
you of these times, in which the strong oppress the weak, the rich the
poor, the unjust the just, the master the slave? In times of storm and
tempest, each builds up as he can a shelter for him and his: this is but
right.--But when the time promised by our prophets shall come, a divine
time, when a benificent sun shall always blaze, when there shall be no
more storms, when the birth of every child shall be welcomed by joyous
songs, as a blessing from the Lord, instead of being lamented as an
affliction, as at present; because, conceived in tears, man, in our
time, lives and dies in tears; when, on the contrary, the child
conceived in joy, shall live in joy; when labor, now crushing, shall be
itself a joy, so shall the fruits of the promised land be abundant;
each tranquil as to the prosperity of his children, shall no longer have
to think for them, to lay up treasures for them, by depriving himself,
and wasting away by over-fatigue. No, no: when Israel shall at length
enjoy the kingdom of God, each shall labor for all, and all shall enjoy
the labor of each.'
'Whereas now,' said the artizan, who had complained of the injustice of
the banker Jonas, 'all labor for a few, these few labor for no one, and
benefit from the labor of all.'
'But for those,' replied Peter, 'our master of Nazareth hath said: 'The
son of man shall send his angels, who shall gather together and carry
out of his kingdom all who are scandalous, and who commit iniquity;
these shall be thrown into a fiery furnace, where there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.'
'And it will be justice,' said Oliba the courtezan; 'is it not they who
force us to sell our bodies to escape the gnashing of teeth caused by
hunger?'
'Is it not they who force mothers to make a traffic of their daughters
rather than see them die of misery?' said another courtezan.
'Oh! when will the day of justice come?'
'It comes, it approaches,' replied Peter in a loud voice; 'for evil, and
iniquity and violence are everywhere; not only here in Juda, but
throughout the whole world, which is the Roman world. Oh! the woes of
Israel are nothing; no, nothing in comparison to the woes that afflict
the nations, her sisters! The whole universe groans and bleeds beneath
the triple yoke of Roman ferocity, debauchery, and cupidity! From one
end of the earth to the other, from Syria to oppressed Gaul, we hear
nothing but the clank of chains and the groans of the slaves crushed
with labor; unhappy amongst the unhappy! they sweat blood from every
pore! More to be pitied than the wild beast dying in his den, or the
beast of burthen dying on his litter; these slaves are tortured, are
killed, or given at pleasure to the teeth of wild beasts! Do valiant
peoples like the Gauls seek to break their chains, they are drowned in
their own blood; and I, I speak the truth to you, in the name of Jesus,
our master; yes, I tell you the truth, this cannot last.'
'No, no!' exclaimed several voices; 'no, this cannot endure!'
'Our master is grieved,' continued the disciple; 'oh! grieved to the
death in thinking of the horrible miseries, the vengeances, and fearful
reprisals which so many ages of oppression and iniquity will let loose
upon the earth. The day before yesterday, at Bethlehem, our master said
to us:
"When you hear of sedition and wars, be not alarmed; these things must
arrive first, but their end will not come so soon."
'Listen,' said several voices, 'listen.'
"We shall see," added Jesus, "people rise against people, kingdom
against kingdom; so shall men pine away with fear in the expectation of
all that is to happen in the universe, for the virtues of heaven shall
be shaken."
A sullen murmur of fear circulated through the crowd at these prophecies
of Jesus of Nazareth recounted by Peter, and several voices exclaimed:--
'Mighty storms, then, will burst forth in heaven.'
'So much the better; these clouds of iniquity must burst, that the
heavens may be cleared and the eternal sun be resplendent.'
'And if they gnash their teeth on earth before grinding them in eternal
fire, these rich, these high priests, these crowned king Pharaoh's, they
have brought it on themselves,' exclaimed Banaias; 'they have brought it
on themselves.'
'Yes, yes, it's true.'
'Oh!' continued Banaias, 'this is not the first time the prophets have
shouted in their ears!
'Amend your lives! be good! be just! be merciful! Look down at your feet
instead of admiring yourselves in your pride! What! reptiles that you
are, you reject from your plates the most delicate meats!
'You fall down gorged with wine; next your cups filled to the very
brims; you ask yourselves, shall I put on to-day my furred robe with the
gold embroidery, or my robe of plush, embroidered with silver? And your
neighbor, shivering with cold beneath his rags, cannot simply taste from
your cup, or lick up the crumbs of your feasts? By the entrails of
Jeremiah, can it endure for any length of time?'
'Yes, yes,' cried several voices, 'this has lasted long enough--the most
patient weary toward the end!'
'The quietest bullock finishes by turning against the spur!'
'And what spur is there like hunger?'
'Yes,' continued Peter, 'yes, this has endured long enough; yes, it has
endured too long; therefore, Jesus, our master, hath said:
"The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor--he hath sent me to heal the broken
hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day
when he shall avenge himself on his enemies."
These words of the Nazarene, quoted by Peter, excited a fresh
enthusiasm, and Genevieve heard one of the two secret emissaries of the
law and the high-priests say to his companion:
'This time the Nazarene shall not escape us, such words are really too
seditious and outrageous!'
But a new and loud rumor was soon heard outside the tavern of the 'Wild
Ass,' and there was but one cry repeated by all:
''Tis he,'tis he!'
''Tis our friend!'
'Here is Jesus, here he is!'